Abstract: The Army Families Federation (AFF) annual survey gathering the opinions of Army families on key issues. The theme of AFF’s Big Survey this year was ‘What keeps you in’, with a range of questions designed to discover which issues and policies encourage families and Service personnel to stay, and which are pushing them to consider leaving. 1,384 people completed the survey; 68% of our responses came from other ranks – noticeably different to the 2015 FAMCAS that got only a 20% response rate from this group. It needs to be acknowledged that families posted to Scotland, who are not Scottish, experience many of the same issues that families posted overseas face, with few measures in place to mitigate these issues. AFF will conduct a further survey in Scotland to explore these concerns further.
While most individuals achieve the transition to civilian life smoothly, some face significant challenges. Although numerous support services are available to those who need them, …